Thursday, October 30, 2008
Genesis 12:3
Thursday, October 30, 2008 |
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
The Lord's promise to Abraham, known as the "Abrahamic Covenant" was made to Abraham before he ever left his home in Ur of the Chaldees. God promised this Gentile man that He would make him a great "nation" with a piece of the land to go along with the nation.
This nation would be a blessing to all people of the world, if they blessed the nation that Abraham would Father. As you continue to read through the book of Genesis, you will see that the promise to Abraham was also confirmed to his son and his grandson; Isaac, Genesis 26:2-3 and Jacob, Genesis 35:12.
Remember, Abraham is not the “father” of the Arab world but the father of the “Jewish nation”. The Abrahamic Covenant is the first of four covenants that God has made with the Jewish people. The "Land Covenant," Deuteronomy 30, is an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant.
To be a "nation" of people, you must have a piece of “real estate”. God mentioned to Abraham in Genesis 12 that the land he passed through on his way South from the "Fertile Crescent", modern-day Syria, that the land would be given to him and his seed, the Jewish people, verses 5-7.
In Genesis 15, there is additional information about the Abrahamic Covenant and the land promised to Abraham in the covenant. We will look at Genesis 15 in another devotional but suffice to say that the Abrahamic Covenant was what is called a "blood covenant." This is a covenant that, if broken, results in the giving up of the life of the one who breaks the covenant or promise.
Genesis 15 says that Abraham actually slept and only the Lord made the covenant, thus this is an "unconditional covenant", only the Lord is responsible for the promises and their fulfillment. By the way, Genesis 15 explains that the land promised to the descendants of Abraham, the Jewish people, will be ten times what they have today, more on that when we come to our devotional reading in Genesis 15.
What is such a blessing to me is that the Lord makes commitments or covenants and obligates Himself to keep them. Some churches say that God has finished with Israel and turned His blessings on the Church. That is what is called "Replacement Theology" - God has replaced the Jews with the Church and has no future program for the Jews.
That is not the case according to our reading today. The Abrahamic Covenant is "forever," as given to the Jewish people. Therefore, we can rest assured that any promise the Lord makes to Christians about eternal life will be fulfilled also.
Should the Lord break His covenant with the Jews, He could break His promises to us as Christians. He cannot break either of the promises, the Abrahamic Covenant or the promise of eternal life to the Christians.
The Lord does have a program for the Jews in the future and we can see the stage being set for that program to come to pass, seemingly in the near future.
PRAYER THOT: Thank You Lord for being a covenant keeping God.
For further study - Genesis 12:1-9
The Lord's promise to Abraham, known as the "Abrahamic Covenant" was made to Abraham before he ever left his home in Ur of the Chaldees. God promised this Gentile man that He would make him a great "nation" with a piece of the land to go along with the nation.
This nation would be a blessing to all people of the world, if they blessed the nation that Abraham would Father. As you continue to read through the book of Genesis, you will see that the promise to Abraham was also confirmed to his son and his grandson; Isaac, Genesis 26:2-3 and Jacob, Genesis 35:12.
Remember, Abraham is not the “father” of the Arab world but the father of the “Jewish nation”. The Abrahamic Covenant is the first of four covenants that God has made with the Jewish people. The "Land Covenant," Deuteronomy 30, is an extension of the Abrahamic Covenant.
To be a "nation" of people, you must have a piece of “real estate”. God mentioned to Abraham in Genesis 12 that the land he passed through on his way South from the "Fertile Crescent", modern-day Syria, that the land would be given to him and his seed, the Jewish people, verses 5-7.
In Genesis 15, there is additional information about the Abrahamic Covenant and the land promised to Abraham in the covenant. We will look at Genesis 15 in another devotional but suffice to say that the Abrahamic Covenant was what is called a "blood covenant." This is a covenant that, if broken, results in the giving up of the life of the one who breaks the covenant or promise.
Genesis 15 says that Abraham actually slept and only the Lord made the covenant, thus this is an "unconditional covenant", only the Lord is responsible for the promises and their fulfillment. By the way, Genesis 15 explains that the land promised to the descendants of Abraham, the Jewish people, will be ten times what they have today, more on that when we come to our devotional reading in Genesis 15.
What is such a blessing to me is that the Lord makes commitments or covenants and obligates Himself to keep them. Some churches say that God has finished with Israel and turned His blessings on the Church. That is what is called "Replacement Theology" - God has replaced the Jews with the Church and has no future program for the Jews.
That is not the case according to our reading today. The Abrahamic Covenant is "forever," as given to the Jewish people. Therefore, we can rest assured that any promise the Lord makes to Christians about eternal life will be fulfilled also.
Should the Lord break His covenant with the Jews, He could break His promises to us as Christians. He cannot break either of the promises, the Abrahamic Covenant or the promise of eternal life to the Christians.
The Lord does have a program for the Jews in the future and we can see the stage being set for that program to come to pass, seemingly in the near future.
PRAYER THOT: Thank You Lord for being a covenant keeping God.